It’s really misleading and actually stupid to lump in Social Security with other taxes. Social Security is unrelated to income taxes for instance. Social Security, unlike every other tax (unless you are a military contractor), is money you pay in expecting to get back when you retire. And it functions as disability insurance if you are unable to work. A single man who earned 23,000 (in 2017 dollars) and who retired in 2020 would pay in 130 thousand dollars but get 190 thousand back on average. That’s very different than being taxed 2 grand a year to pay for hundreds of billions for the F35 fighter jet that never got off the ground.

Please add interest on the debt — this generation’s payment for all the unpaid spending in the past.

To reduce the deficit add a means based tax to everyone's federal tax bill. The tax would be added each year for 15 years, adjusted for inflation and reduction of the deficit as required. Additionally reduce spending where necessary and also strengthen the social safety net programs and expand Medicare and Medicaid. In addition to the deficit reduction tax we must increase the payroll taxes for Social Security and make everyone at every level of income above $60,000 (to be adjusted upward for inflation annually) pay the SS tax on their full amount earnings including capital gains from equities. The probability of this happening is less than zero. The screaming of the Republicans would reverberate across the nation. This would be worse than anything that Franklin Roosevelt and his progressives could possibly think of. On the other hand a moderated version of these taxes and reductions could possibly avert the catastrophic financial tidal wave that is slowly making it's away at us. Nothing of course will happen....except that the debt is continuing to grow unabated. Sooner or later we'll have to deal with it.

One very salient piece of information that jumps out at the careful reader, is that every item dealing with "Income security" - i.e. helping people who need help in a timely and effective manner - has declined, many of them quite significantly. Part, but certainly not all of this decrease can be attributed to by the economic recovery which has miraculously continued under Mr. Trump;s exceptionally erratic "guidance". However, some of it such as food assistance, help for disabled people, "welfare" and several others, has been due to very mean-spirited budget slashing. It may help to try to socially re-frame helping folks who really need it, as an INVESTMENT - especially when it comes to the areas of health and anything involving children. A dollar spent helping a struggling child in an impoverished home and community environment, will surely save MANY dollars down the line, in terms of health costs, possible police and jail expenses, other forms of assistance, etc. Money spent on helping people improve their overall health, will also pay for itself many times over down the line. // I notice also, a very disturbing trend in cutting expenses for programs which protect citizens in a variety of ways. Food inspection budget - cut! Center for disease control - stagnant. Environmental regulations slashed left right and center and enforcement greatly diminished. Doesn't seem like the Trumpists are interested in "the common good" in any dedicated and systematic way..surprise!

Thank you so much for this article and the graphic. Well done.

For people doing research, please provide this data as a simple table or spreadsheet without the different sized fonts and cluttered placements. Thanks.

Please do a similar work up on how each income bracket pays to fund...

Using a larger font for larger dollar amounts is interesting, but I don't think it adds to the story. Anyone who grocery shops or looks at their annual budget knows how to add up numbers. It's easy to compare these to my rent / mortgage vs. my Netflix account. Separately, I hope CVS doesn't get any ideas. Their receipts are already big enough.

This is one of the most helpful columns you've produced in a long time. It actually helps me compare my tax burden with the benefits I'm accruing -- and the costs I'm bearing. More like this, please!

Seeing it broke down like this, why dont more people get upset with military spending? Its mind numbing. Listening to a certain segment of the population you would think the $15 per person spent on WIC is the reason people cant get by in life

I hope someday someone will care about this. I don't see anybody talking about it nowadays.

The amount of money the American government spends to make up its Defense budget for ONE year is like spending $80,000 per hour EVERY hour for 1,000 years ... and then it does the exact same thing the next year and the next year and ...

I wish, just wish, that whenever Social Security expenditures are mentioned in a budget conversation, the contribution to the budget would also be mentioned. Yes, the expenditures are huge, but so are the contributions. A more honest approach would show the difference between the two. I'm a firm believer that Social Security contributions and expenditures should never have been included in the Federal Budget. Or as an alternative, the budget should be presented "excluding Social Security" much as the CPI is presented "excluding food and energy".

things are good now with all this spending. How is the US NOT going to end up bankdrupt like Atlantic City casinos are? I'm really just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I'd be interested in an analysis per tax source. 50% of federal revenues come from income taxes. ~35% comes from from payroll taxes, but most of that $ goes to mandatory spending (e.g. SS) and so isn't part of the discretionary budget. Corps only pay in ~8-9% federal revenue. It looks like a cost $3600/person in discretionary spending -- far more if you divide by the ~130 million US fulltime employees vs. 327 million population. And the military is the bulk of that. The increase in military funding could have doubled HUD's budget. Ugh.

I thank the Upshot for its commitment to conveying data in an intelligent way. Your articles are always far better than the overly liberal NY Times editorials and worth the price of the paper. On my wish list is a graphic that depicts state and federal spending over time. A lot of areas should be funded by the states and the federal government borrows money to help them out. There was a time when Mr. Trump was concerned about the debt and now he does not even seem to be concerned about the deficit. Back in 2000, Mr. Trump, (not Bernie Sanders), proposed a 14% wealth tax on the rich to pay off the national debt. Should I vote Democratic to cut federal spending or just let the grand-kids worry about it?

I can summarize your lengthy report and make a comment on it. With his massive record deficit spending mainly because of an insane pentagon budget and massive corporate welfare coupled with record student, consumer and credit card debt, an economic collapse will come. The only question is when and how bad.

I work in federal budget. Respectfully, this is a very misleading article in that it essentially credits Trump with the current budget breakout. Congress holds the "power of the purse." The authorizing committees oversee mandatory spending and the appropriations committees oversee discretionary spending. The FY 2020 federal budget was the result of a conference between the Republican Senate and the Democratic House. All Trump did was sign the bill into law. (Remember Schoolhouse Rock?) This article does nothing to reflect the enormous cuts proposed in Trump's FY 2020 budget and creates a false depiction to voters. Credit where credit is due. This is Congress' product, not Donald Trump's.

It would also be helpful to see the percentage increases/decreases here as that would provide a more 'apples to apples' analysis of these changes.

Thanks for a detailed and personalized review of federal spending. Seeing the numbers, especially $15k per person, is sobering. And it provides one real anchor in the discussion about "fair" taxation. In a sense, anyone paying much less than $15k in federal taxes is getting a bargain. The breakdown also makes me think of how people would feel about paying taxes if each of us could allocate where our dollars get spent.

The Upshot claims that, "For health and retirement programs, increases are generally steady because of rising health care costs and an aging population. For programs that address income insecurity, like unemployment and food assistance, spending tends to decrease when the economy is doing better." So how does that claim square with Trump's new budget proposal that slashes those programs The Upshot claims "are generally steady"? Time to revisit the graphic? Will we now see a new graphic showing how much will be cut from those areas of the budget that were "generally steady"?

Please tell us why this lists all sorts of increases in the federal budget when Trump has just proposed a budget with massive cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, children's health insurance, environmental agencies, and virtually every other part of government not the military? And could you also explain to us why there is not a single mention of the trillion dollar deficits forecast for years to come? Wouldn't that have given this article important perspective?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there are 156 million people who are employed full and part time. So double the cost to the tax payer from what is published in this article as I doubt many five year olds are chipping in. This is going to sound cold but old people are expensive to keep going. It will get worse with a declining birth rate and aging population. May want to rethink immigration, we will need someone to pay the bills.

Any chance you could add a line item for golf/resort expenses?

Excellent graphic and summary. Thank you

If you want to help Ukraine don’t give them money, their corrupt politicians will steal it, give them weapons. Weapons can’t just be stolen and sold off, they will be used in combat.

It's pretty insane that farmers get more money than all other professions combined.

Good to see expenses towards Secret Services rise by 15%. That must bridge the deficit for protecting Trump and his family at Trump properties.